The Snow Cap
by Tinsadisaster
Summary: Sometimes people don't change. Sometimes that's a good thing. Ron


_**The Snow Cap**_

_Part I: A Single Glance_

**Tinsadisaster**

**Summary**: Sometimes people don't change. Sometimes that's a good thing. Ron&Luna.

**Disclaimer**: Ron and Luna are not mine. Draco and Hermione are not mine. Boo hoo, JKR.

**Author's Note**: I was on the ride home from my relative's place and a sudden thought came into my mind that went along the lines of "snowcap, glance, fluff." A couple hours of watching The Holiday and A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila later, voila. It's not exactly my ship, but hey, Ronny needs a little lovin' too! Enjoy.

Oh, sorry for neglecting my fanfiction. I just ended my first semester of college. BRUTAL!

* * *

xxx

Orange cap, blonde hair, and whimsical sea blue eyes.

He swore he didn't mean to do more than take one glance at her. She was walking down the sidewalk, passing by the window shoppers who stared at her abnormal behavior.

There he was, Christmas shopping with his mother and his sister, and then this strange thing happened, and it was no longer just about ribbons and inexpensive trinkets just perfect for Judith, the third cousin on Dad's side of the family, who they had not seen in years.

Her snowcap was strange, even beyond strange, into the world of just plain weird. Then again, what other adjective would be perfect to describe her?

"Why is she jerking around like that?" Ron Weasley whispered to himself, half forgetting the weight of the bags that he held in his hands. Unfortunately, he walked into the kitchen at the wrong time this morning, because he involuntarily volunteered to be the mule for his mother and sister's holiday shopping spree. His sister hinted at the possibility of checking out the new Quidditch store, but he found himself walking farther and farther away from it.

He had not seen Luna in a few years. After the end of the War and their education at Hogwarts (everyone had been forced to retake the school year that was interrupted, much to the joy of Hermione), she had moved away to another continent with her father, who reasoned that they needed to "get away for a while, to clear things up a bit."

A while turned out to be three years.

And "a while" had done good to Luna.

Ron couldn't hide that fact.

"Ronald, will you stop lollygagging? We've still got seven stores to go, and you're just slowing me and Mum down!" yelled Ginny, who was yards ahead of him, with his mother, whose eyes gleamed with the intent to find even more good bargains.

"C-coming!" he yelled back. A few holiday shoppers turned their glances sharply at him, but he didn't care. A few seconds of seeing an old school acquaintance was all he needed to take his mind off the dreadful torture that was holiday shopping.

He huffed, gathered the bags he conveniently dropped on the sidewalk so he could give his numb fingers a few seconds rest, and jogged to catch up to the two red-headed psychopaths he called members of his family.

However, he did let himself take another glance at Luna.

"Merlin."

He shook his head and treaded onward, never forgetting the whimsical blonde girl with the Halloween-themed snowcap, with life-like, dancing popcorn candies and miniature witches on broomsticks.

"Some people never change," he told himself.

Near him, two women were chatting over tea. One woman had said something while the other replied, with a laugh, "Sometimes that's a good thing."

He overheard and kept that little sound bite in his head. "Sometimes that's a good thing..."

"RONALD WEASLEY, if you do not catch up in the next five seconds, we won't take you to the bloody Quidditch store!"

"Oh bloody hell..." he whimpered.

"Language, young man!" exclaimed his mother.

"Somebody please assassinate me now," he said quietly.

"Gladly," said a sniggering little cockroach whose name was Draco Malfoy. Coincidentally, he was shopping with his fiance, whose hands were filled with books.

"Be nice, Draco," scolded Hermione Granger. "Hello Ron, sorry but we're on a tight schedule. We've got to go. Tell your family that we said hi. Bye!"

"Hmph. Have a good day, Weasley. Oh, by the way, your shoelace is untied."

Ron, with bags in hand and all, looked downwards, forgetting he shoved on the shoes that in fact did not require shoe laces.

"Oh bollocks, very mature, Ferret" Ron attempted to fire back, but unfortunately, Hermione had pulled the pale cockroach away before a verbal brawl that would take them all back to their Hogwarts days would ensue.

"RON!"

"Coming! Merlin's jewels, what am I to you? A luggage-carrying donkey?"

Ron faintly heard someone scream out "Yes, Weasley, you are correct! One point to the Gryffindork!" followed by a "Ow, you bloody woman, you nearly broke my nose."

Ron smiled, for the first and last time that day.

xxx xxx

Luna Lovegood wandered about Diagon Alley, swapping at invisible pests that her father said would give her whooping cough if she did not keep them at bay. She was there to shop for the holidays, as normal as it would sound. However, her gifts could only be found at the lonely, little, awkwardly located store right between an adult witch and wizard store and a tea bag dealer.

She swore she saw Hermione Granger and a snivelling Draco Malfoy jog by her, but it wasn't possible. Perhaps the invisible pests had finally got ahold of her senses. It had been a few years since she was in the area, but she had not forgotten the animosity between the Head Girl and Head Boy. It felt like a miniature school reunion.

In fact, they weren't the only school acquaintances she caught a glimpse of. She saw Dean and Seamus leave a Quidditch store, Lavender leave a evening dress robe store, and a heavily-bagged Ronald Weasley.

"I think he saw me," she told the voice inside her head.

She smiled into her scarf, which awkwardly enough matched her obscene snowcap. She had never really cared what people thought of her, but she felt embarassed. It was the only warm thing she could find in the moving boxes. She had moved to Australia, where those things weren't exactly required, with her father immediately after graduation.

What did he think of her snowcap?

"He probably thought I was being weird again," she told herself. "Oh hush, nevermind you."

She continued to walk around the holiday shoppers, ignoring the strange reactions to her comfortably warm snow cap and occasionally letting the random curious little child stare at it.

Luna knew coming back would be different, but the feelings that she felt were still the same. Who knew a school girl crush could survive all the distance and time? Or better yet, the question was… Would this school girl crush finally turn into something more?


End file.
